A great day at Brook Street Carnival, posted by Phoenece

Sunday 25th May saw us back at the Brook Street Carnival. It was our 4th year at Brook Street and we had been looking forward to it - it’s one of our favourite events.

For the second year running we were sponsored by the Istanbul BBQ, a Turkish restaurant in Brook Street, so we set up our little home from home outside their restaurant. This was our base for some impromptu performances and for some henna.

Meroe, Phoenece, Kebi, Mish Mish, Naima, Tameri and Aisha perform a Tunisian dance

Our first set of the day was a Tunisan routine - which gave us the chance to wear all of our bling - followed by a Moroccan scarf dance. This was a new routine with lots of formation changes in it - we were in and out of formation like the red arrows! We were warmly welcomed at the old folk’s home for a private performance for them and even managed to get some of the staff to join in.

Moroccan scarf dance

One of our “missions” for the event was to try and get the crowd to join us as we performed a fun Lebanese line dance – a debke. We didn’t quite manage the cast of thousands we hoped for, but Meroe said that next year we aim to have a line running the full length of Brook Street.

Debke outside the Istanbul BBQ

Our day was finished of nicely with a fantastic meal at the Istanbul BBQ. Our thanks to the organisers of the Carnival for inviting us; to our sponsors the fabulous Istanbul BBQ; and especially to Betty - who gave us the run of her flat in Brook Street to use as our dressing room. Thank you Betty - and we apologise in advance for the fact that you’ll probably be finding sequins and glitter in your flat for weeks to come!